The poem Beowulf recounts the exploits of the Geatish hero Beowulf against three antagonists over the course of his life. As a young man, Beowulf travels to Denmark to help King Hrothgar, whose mead hall Heorot is under attack from the monster Grendel. Beowulf defeats Grendel in hand-to-hand combat, tearing his arm off. Later, Grendel's mother attacks the hall in revenge and Beowulf tracks and kills her in her underwater lair. Fifty years later as king of the Geats, Beowulf slays a dragon that has been terrorizing his people but is fatally wounded in the battle. He is buried with many

2.  Is an Anglo-Saxon poem based on the tradition by the
Anglo-Saxons from their home from the continent.
 Consists of three separate stories that recount to an
exploit of the hero Beowulf.

4.  King Hrothgar (hroth-gar), a king of a Danish tribe
called the scyldings (skil- dingz), built a place or a “folk
hall” called Heorot (he-o-rot), which is a large, four-sided
wooden building with a roof of high gable- like
horns.
 After the building of the Heorot was finished, Hrothgar,
his wife Wealhþeow, and his warriors or thanes held a
celebration that disturbed Grendel.
 Grendel is a troll- like gigantic monster which is a
descendant from Cain, the first murderer, and no sword
could penetrate his body.

5.  The night after the celebration, Grendel carried off
and ate thirty of Hrothgar’s thanes, and continued to
do it again and again until the hall was abandoned by
him and his people.
 The story of Grendel’s doings was foretold by traveling
poets and singers to the Geats (ga-ats), and was heard
by Beowulf, a noble thane of the court of Hygelac (hig-e-
lak). With his king’s permission, accompanied by
fourteen chosen warriors, crossed the sea to give aid in
Heorot.
 When they reached Heorot, Beowulf introduced
himself frankly to Hrothgar and is accompanied by
Hunferth (oon- farth), Hrothgar’s orator.

6.  Beowulf and his men stayed the night in Heorot,
unarmed, for they believe that the monster would
fight without a sword or any weapon. After they fall
asleep, Grendel enters the hall and attacks, devouring
one of Beowulf's men.
 Beowulf has been feigning sleep and leaps up to clench
Grendel's hand, battling until it seems as though the
hall might collapse. Beowulf's retainers draw their
swords and rush to his aid, but their blades cannot
pierce Grendel's skin.
 Finally, Beowulf tears Grendel's arm from his body to
the shoulder and Grendel runs to his home in the
marshes and died.

8.  After the defeat of Grendel, Hrothgar and his men
sleep in Heorot. Grendel’s mother, angered by his son’s
death, appears and attacks the hall. She
killed Æschere, Hrothgar’s trusted warrior, in revenge
for Grendel's defeat.
 Hrothgar, Beowulf and their men tracked Grendel’s
mother to her lair under a lake. Beowulf prepares for
battle and is presented with a sword called Hrunting
by Hunferth.

9.  After stipulating a number of conditions to Hrothgar
in case of his death (including the taking in of his
kinsmen and the inheritance by Unferth of Beowulf's
estate), Beowulf dives into the lake. He is swiftly
detected and attacked by Grendel's mother. However,
she is unable to harm Beowulf through his armour and
drags him to the bottom of the lake. In a cavern
containing Grendel's body and the remains of men
that the two have killed, Grendel's mother and
Beowulf engage in fierce combat.

10.  At first, Grendel's mother appears to prevail. Beowulf,
finding that Hrunting cannot harm his foe, discards it
in fury. Beowulf is again saved from his opponent's
attack by his armour. Beowulf grabs a magical sword
from Grendel's mother's treasure, and with it beheads
her.
 Travelling further into the lair, Beowulf discovers
Grendel's dying body and severs its head. The blade of
the magic sword melts like ice when it touches
Grendel's toxic blood, until only the hilt is left. This
hilt is the only treasure that Beowulf carries out of
cavern, which he presents to Hroðgar upon his return
to Heorot. Beowulf then returns to the surface and to
his men at the "ninth hour“

11.  He returns to Heorot, where Hroðgar gives Beowulf
many gifts, including the sword Nægling which is
Hrothgar’s family’s heirloom. Beowulf and his thanes
were rewarded.

13.  Beowulf returns home and eventually became the king
of his own people. One day, fifty years after Beowulf's
battle with Grendel's mother, a slave steals a golden
cup from the lair of an unnamed dragon at Earnaness.
 When the dragon sees that the cup has been stolen, it
leaves its cave in a rage, burning everything in sight.
Beowulf and his warriors come to fight the dragon, but
Beowulf tells his men that he will fight the dragon
alone and that they should wait on the barrow.
 Beowulf descends to do battle with the dragon but
finds himself outmatched. His men, upon seeing this
display and fearing for their lives, creep back into the
woods.

14.  One of his men, however, Wiglaf, who finds great
distress in seeing Beowulf's plight, comes to Beowulf's
aid. The two slay the dragon, but Beowulf is mortally
wounded.
 Beowulf is buried in the land of Geats on a cliff
overlooking the sea, where sailors are able to see
his tumulus. The dragon's treasure is buried with him,
in accordance with Beowulf's wishes, rather than
distributed to his people, and there is a curse
associated with the hoard to ensure that Beowulf's
wish is kept.